Eduard Imhof: Leben und Werk

Summary

This obituary recounts the life and work of the Swiss cartographer Eduard Imhof (1895–1986). Born in Schiers, Graubünden, he studied surveying at ETH Zurich from 1914, became an assistant there in 1919, was appointed associate professor in 1925 and full professor in 1949, and retired in 1965 after 46 years of teaching. He founded the university's cartographic institute and campaigned successfully for reform of the official Swiss map series, securing a graduated scale series and a 1:25,000 map of the whole country, issued in multicolour line and shaded-relief versions. He edited the Schweizerischer Mittelschulatlas from the 6th (1932) to the 17th edition (1976) and the Sekundarschulatlas through 12 editions (1934–1975), and with Paul Kläui produced the Atlas zur Geschichte des Kantons Zürich. In 1930 he joined the Minya Konka expedition in eastern Tibet, published in 1974 as Die großen kalten Berge von Szetschuan. In 1951 he advised the Turkish survey in Ankara. He was the first president of the International Cartographic Association (1961–1964) and founded the International Yearbook of Cartography. His books include Gelände und Karte, Kartographische Geländedarstellung and Thematische Kartographie; in later years he led the Atlas der Schweiz and painted a 1:200,000 map picture of Switzerland. A biographical bibliography is appended.